PDAGold Reviews the Acer n311

[Jason Dunn]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.pdagold.com/articles/detail.asp?a=268' target='_blank'>http://www.pdagold.com/articles/detail.asp?a=268</a><br /><br /></div><i>"Acer has lately been trying to rid of a label of a producer of low-end or entry-level Pocket PCs. The first such attempt was Acer n50 and now, the manufacturer ventured to the high society of Pocket PC devices with a VGA display. Do not expect an orgy of innovation; on the other hand, the design and some other features make the Acer N300 stand out from the crowd. There are going to be two models. I managed to get hold the more powerful one, Acer n311, for this review. I should stress that it was a pre-production model and the final version may bring some changes..."</i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/0000000268_VHf25019114245.gif" /><br /><br />A fantastic review from Pavel at PDAgold. The Acer n311 looks like an excellent VGA device, and the review delves into all the nooks and crannies. I particularly liked the part of the review when Pavel was testing the USB host functionality and connected a hard drive <i>and</i> a digital camera. That's just plain awesome. :mrgreen: Great review, worth the read.

[gt24]

The interesting thing that I found is that the cradle is used to assist the USB Host... in other words, it supported the device in landscape mode with a keyboard plugged into the back of it. Certainly redefines the usefulness of a cradle, eh? :)

This device does have me interested... although price will determine how interested I end up being...

[PDANEWBIE]

Sad to hear about the poor graphics I was almost looking forward to this until I read that. I'll have to wait until some other people buy it and its really "on the shelf" before I cry

[gt24]

Sad to hear about the poor graphics I was almost looking forward to this until I read that. &lt;snip>

Darn poll, I didn't quite read the whole article! The graphic performance is certainly a huge drawback, considering that it struggles playing VGA anything and only does somewhat ok on QVGA stuff...

hmmm...

[zarxic]

I am really bummed about the video playback. And it's actually kinda hard to believe. If my old Casio E-100 can do QVGA playback smoothly, this thing should too.

[netboy]

did they forgot something?
WHERE IS THE PHONE part??
put in EVDO or UMTS, and this is PERFECT for me!
this thing will DOA! most people wanted a VGA pda! they ALREADY got one! ie. DELL x50v and Dell X51v

[whydidnt]

Hopefully they'll figure out the graphics issue, because this would certainly be a device to consider otherwise. It's basically the same size as the HP 1950 they compared it to. Much smaller than any other VGA PPC device in the market today.

Very interesting to see they managed to leave 82 MB of ROM and 35 MB of RAM free - compared to my Universal with only 40 MB of ROM and 28 MB of RAM. Seems HTC has been pretty wasteful with our memory, but we already know that, I guess.

[Patrick Y.]

I am really bummed about the video playback. And it's actually kinda hard to believe. If my old Casio E-100 can do QVGA playback smoothly, this thing should too.

You know, the reviewed device is a pre-production device. Acer has already released bunch of updates for the device in Taiwan. After reading the forum of Mobile01, I know that the earliest models has quite a few issues. However, most of them are fixed by now.

BTW, the newest ROM has this:
http://attach.mobile01.com/attach/200601/mobile01-826d9d1f0bc216ab105c242d1209d64c.jpg
http://attach.mobile01.com/attach/200601/mobile01-a7df67f894a227db44fffd6435df8a2f.jpg
http://attach.mobile01.com/attach/200601/mobile01-bc7e3dfc26c807e657ee12447a178f79.jpg

I think the currect n300 has AKU 2.1 too.

edit: Picture Source: Mobile01

[rob_ocelot]

[quote=zarxic]I am really bummed about the video playback. And it's actually kinda hard to believe. If my old Casio E-100 can do QVGA playback smoothly, this thing should too.

You know, the reviewed device is a pre-production device. Acer has already released bunch of updates for the device in Taiwan. After reading the forum of Mobile01, I know that the earliest models has quite a few issues. However, most of them are fixed by now.
/quote]

Any mention of fixes to the graphic performance?

I think this is one instance where an onboard Intel 2700g would have been warranted to take the load off the Samsung processor.

[Darius Wey]

I think the currect n300 has AKU 2.1 too.

What makes you say that? And, did you mean AKU 2.0?

[Patrick Y.]

I think the currect n300 has AKU 2.1 too.

What makes you say that? And, did you mean AKU 2.0?

Hi Darius,

I did mean that current n300 has AKU 2.1. I'm not sure, but that's what users at Mobile01 said. I've been trying to find some descriptions from Acer's website to confirm this, but there is none. That's why I use "I think" in my original statement. Anyway, this one of the random comments from the users from http://www.mobile01.com/topicdetail.php?f=61&amp;t=124282&amp;p=1

AKU 2.1 喔
手腳還滿快的喔


This supposely means that "AKU2.1, pretty quick". BTW, don't even try to use online translation. The people there use too much "special phrases" and slangs (you know, such as what's "up" in English). Couple people comment after that poster and pretty much say the same thing. It's quite possible that Acer actually has AKU2.1. After all, Microsoft already released everything and it's up to OEMs to put the features on their device.

Here is a link to the official Acer download site.
http://stkts.sertek.com.tw/notebook.nsf/f8216decdda3731a482568a3002c860b/1cad2a60047a38d74825710f0010d751?OpenDocument
The ROM is only available for download on Acer's Taiwanese site.

Hopefully I didn't misread anything. My Chinese is not as good as before after staying in US for this long. :( I surely miss the busy life in Taiwan. It's SOOOOO boring in US. :roll:

[Darius Wey]

This supposely means that "AKU2.1, pretty quick". BTW, don't even try to use online translation. The people there use too much "special phrases" and slangs (you know, such as what's "up" in English). Couple people comment after that poster and pretty much say the same thing. It's quite possible that Acer actually has AKU2.1. After all, Microsoft already released everything and it's up to OEMs to put the features on their device.

It's okay. I can actually read Chinese, despite being a little rusty at it these days. I'll check out Mobile01 and see what they have to say. :P

Edit: Hmm, some interesting stuff there. 8O I'll have to follow it up.

[Patrick Y.]

This supposely means that "AKU2.1, pretty quick". BTW, don't even try to use online translation. The people there use too much "special phrases" and slangs (you know, such as what's "up" in English). Couple people comment after that poster and pretty much say the same thing. It's quite possible that Acer actually has AKU2.1. After all, Microsoft already released everything and it's up to OEMs to put the features on their device.

It's okay. I can actually read Chinese, despite being a little rusty at it these days. I'll check out Mobile01 and see what they have to say. :P

Just curious, can you write Chinese?

[Darius Wey]

Just curious, can you write Chinese?

Not to get too off-topic, but I suck at writing now. Reading and speaking is all I can do.

[Patrick Y.]

Good luck checking out Mobile01. :razzing: :P I really had a difficult time understanding those people. They used too much online slang/abbreviation. However, there surely are tons of interesting stuff, especially the ones about n311 and Dopod 818. :wink: 8)

[Patrick Y.]

Here is bunch of pictures for any one interested.

http://www.mobile01.com/topicdetail.php?f=61&amp;t=134595

[Typhoon]

I wonder how much it would of costed them if they put an onboard GPU. If they did that, it would of won more customers. Oh yea, throw in the Intel CPU. Would a 416 MHz Intel CPU be fast enough? It would definitely save more power.

[KTamas]

This is too bad. This looked like a nearly perfect device, and then it fails at video. Oh well.

[Patrick Y.]

I wonder how much it would of costed them if they put an onboard GPU. If they did that, it would of won more customers. Oh yea, throw in the Intel CPU. Would a 416 MHz Intel CPU be fast enough? It would definitely save more power.

400mhz Samsung CPU should be faster than 416 Mhz Intel CPU. Benchmarks point out that 266mhz Samsung CPU has the same performance as Intel's 400mhz CPU. It's like AMD vs. Intel. However, I guess samsung chip just doesn't handle vga graphics very well. :(

[Typhoon]

I wonder how much it would of costed them if they put an onboard GPU. If they did that, it would of won more customers. Oh yea, throw in the Intel CPU. Would a 416 MHz Intel CPU be fast enough? It would definitely save more power.

400mhz Samsung CPU should be faster than 416 Mhz Intel CPU. Benchmarks point out that 266mhz Samsung CPU has the same performance as Intel's 400mhz CPU. It's like AMD vs. Intel. However, I guess samsung chip just doesn't handle vga graphics very well. :(

So the Samsung just happen to be cheaper?

[Patrick Y.]

maybe... After all, Intel chips are far more expensive than its competiters in PC market.

[Andy Whiteford]

I was reading the Mobile01 forums for a while going back a few weeks and I believe one of the users with the latest ROM 1.15?? had said that he had run full screen VGA as well as QVGA movies and both were perfectly smooth. I also read something similar on the Hardware.fr forums although they never mentioned the bitrate they were using. It sounds like the issues in the review are to do with the preproduction model. Certainly the 2 French reviews I have seen made no mention of poor graphics ability.

[Andy Whiteford]

There is a video clip of the Acer playing back full screen video in this review...


http://64.233.179.104/translate_c?hl=en&amp;u=http://www.mobigeeks.fr/stories.php%3Fstory%3D06/02/01/1984995&amp;prev=/search%3Fq%3Dacer%2Bn311%2Breview%26start%3D30%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26sa%3DN

[Anath]

Is no one else also disappointed by the fact that the joy pad does not operate diagonally. This means gaming is not an option even if the slow graphics are down to the unit being a pre production model

[Andy Whiteford]

Is no one else also disappointed by the fact that the joy pad does not operate diagonally. This means gaming is not an option even if the slow graphics are down to the unit being a pre production model


You do realise that diagonal scrolling is not a requirement for Windows Mobile. Any device that has that can be considered a bonus but I wouldn't be too disappointed when a device doesn't support a feature that it isn't required to. The majority of Pocket PCs do not have diagonal scrolling although I can understand why this would be desirable in a unit with a joystick.

[Anath]

Is no one else also disappointed by the fact that the joy pad does not operate diagonally. This means gaming is not an option even if the slow graphics are down to the unit being a pre production model


You do realise that diagonal scrolling is not a requirement for Windows Mobile. Any device that has that can be considered a bonus but I wouldn't be too disappointed when a device doesn't support a feature that it isn't required to. The majority of Pocket PCs do not have diagonal scrolling although I can understand why this would be desirable in a unit with a joystick.

I think your wrong , all of my previous and current devices do have a joy pad that operates diagonally (ipaq 194o, 4150, 2210, axim x50v). It certainly means you cannot play emulation games (morphgear, snes etc) with the n300.

[PDANEWBIE]

The problem is I don't know what that video is originally from in order to figure out if the jumpiness I see in that playback is from the PPC or the content it was made from... Notice when you click on the link in the video usually when the viewpoint is panning you notice it kind of becoming "choppy". In all I don't think its HALF as bad as I had thought from the review but it definitely was noticeable even on that small link.

[Andy Whiteford]

I think your wrong , all of my previous and current devices do have a joy pad that operates diagonally (ipaq 194o, 4150, 2210, axim x50v). It certainly means you cannot play emulation games (morphgear, snes etc) with the n300.

I had the 1940 and currently the 4150 and I'm unable to use true diagonals although I must be honest and say I don't really play games with it. Certainly if I try a diagonal it seems to get there by jumping say right one and then up one instead of up right in a single move if that makes sense?

[Andy Whiteford]

The problem is I don't know what that video is originally from in order to figure out if the jumpiness I see in that playback is from the PPC or the content it was made from... Notice when you click on the link in the video usually when the viewpoint is panning you notice it kind of becoming "choppy". In all I don't think its HALF as bad as I had thought from the review but it definitely was noticeable even on that small link.

Not sure if that is on the source video, the device or if it is a problem with the camera used to capture the video from from the Acer. From what I have read though, there doesn't appear to be any real issues with the Productions models in France and Taiwan.

[Anath]

I think your wrong , all of my previous and current devices do have a joy pad that operates diagonally (ipaq 194o, 4150, 2210, axim x50v). It certainly means you cannot play emulation games (morphgear, snes etc) with the n300.

I had the 1940 and currently the 4150 and I'm unable to use true diagonals although I must be honest and say I don't really play games with it. Certainly if I try a diagonal it seems to get there by jumping say right one and then up one instead of up right in a single move if that makes sense?

Andy

I’m not sure what you mean by true diagonals. If the acer joypad allows you navigate the same as a 4150 than I’d be happy but reading the review I don’t think it will.

I think pointing the joypad diagonally will have no effect. The HTC universal also suffers from this limitation. Pointing diagonally on an ipaq 4150 will move a character in that direction

[gt24]

&lt;snip>
I think pointing the joypad diagonally will have no effect. The HTC universal also suffers from this limitation. Pointing diagonally on an ipaq 4150 will move a character in that direction

This device does have USB host though... I wonder how long it will be before somebody writes some joystick drivers... and also before there is a decent small joystick for it...

Eitherways, I didn't think gaming was a huge draw for this device, being that it doesn't have video acceleration. It should be decent for other uses though epsecially if the slow video performance was mearly a software issue.

[Andy Whiteford]

I’m not sure what you mean by true diagonals. If the acer joypad allows you navigate the same as a 4150 than I’d be happy but reading the review I don’t think it will.

I think pointing the joypad diagonally will have no effect. The HTC universal also suffers from this limitation. Pointing diagonally on an ipaq 4150 will move a character in that direction

I think when you use a diagonal on the h4150 it is actually pushing 2 directions at the same time instead of a single true diagonal. Not sure about the Acer although it sounds like it won't act the same i.e. pushing a diagonal will not push 2 directions and therefore do nothing.